I wake up a few minutes before my alarm goes off. This is an exciting morning! I quickly get dressed. I step outside my front door and breathe in the crisp, cool morning air. It’s still dark as I walk to my car.
I arrive in Lincoln Heights, and as I turn the corner from Mission Road, I see a news van already set up at the corner of Main Street & Hancock Street in front of a towering 100-unit apartment building.
Before the apartment was built in 2022, there was a row of quaint houses that sat facing Main Street. For decades, three of these houses witnessed the flow of traffic along Main Street, and many generations of families called them home.
In 2021, these 3 homes were relocated from Main Street to the rear of the large lot along Hancock Street to make way for the large apartment building, which would take their place on Main Street.
These 3 houses sat vacant for the past 4 years, perched 5 feet off the ground on wooden cribs. There was talk of future uses for these houses, most of which were commercial in nature, such as offices or maybe a dental or medical clinic.
I’m still sifting through the origins of these buildings, but I know I first learned about these 3 houses through Brad Chambers. Brad is passionate about preserving historical homes. In fact, it was in 2004 when I first worked with Brad to relocate a house built in the 1880s to the beautiful neighborhood of Highland Park, in Northeast Los Angeles.
Brad shared with me that he had a great idea for these houses and for vacant houses like these. Instead of converting them for commercial use, why not relocate them to Altadena, where they could be repaired and restored to their original intended use? Homes where families could live their lives and raise their families. What a great idea! Brad truly is a wonderful guy!
Brad introduced me to the lovely families I would be working with in Altadena. They were AWESOME! We agreed to move forward with this incredible project, and I started on the mountain of digital paperwork needed to secure the signatures and approvals so we could move these 3 structures from Los Angeles City to Altadena.
Getting the initial approvals was truly a group effort. Everyone pitched in and helped carry the ball to our first goal: relocating the buildings. The day has finally arrived, and this morning, the house designated as 3016 will be moved from Hancock Street in Los Angeles to Calaveras Street in Altadena.
What’s involved with moving a house by truck? Over the past few weeks, the 3 houses were prepped for their upcoming move. 3016 was braced on the inside with cross-beams & struts. This building would be cut in half, and the roof would be removed to be reassembled on-site.
Where the house was cut in half, a new wall would be framed in to provide structural stability during the move and provide protection from the elements. The two halves of the house were loaded onto 2 separate truck beds in preparation for its journey from Los Angeles, through Alhambra, South Pasadena, and Pasadena, to its final resting place in Altadena, CA.
The time is 3:33 am, and the first half of 3016 rolls off the Lincoln Heights lot, followed by its other half on the truck behind. The twin halves are minor celebrities; news cameras capture them as they roll by, preceded and followed by escort vehicles with yellow flashing lights.
In the still of the night, the house rolls through the quiet streets on a route that was mapped out and submitted to Street Services months before. Each of the 4 cities and the LA County Office granted its permission for this 4-city pre-dawn cruise.
I carefully speed up ahead of the slow-moving trucks so I, too, can capture video of the trucks carrying 3016 as they travel north on Fair Oaks Boulevard through South Pasadena, Pasadena, and into unincorporated LA County jurisdiction. After the truck’s lights become small flashing dots in my lens, I get back in the car and loop around to Calaveras Street so I can see the final approach of the house-carrying trucks.
I park the car a safe distance from where I know the action will take place, then briskly walk to the corner of Calaveras & La Venezia to capture images of the house’s final approach.
My heart speeds up as I see the escort trucks with flashing lights pass by Fair Oaks Burger as they turn from Fair Oaks Avenue east onto Calaveras Street. 3016 is here!
3016 will ultimately sit at the rear of the property, parallel to the street, with the front porch facing east to meet the sunrise every morning. Tomorrow night, her twin 3018 will make the same journey under the cover of night and be placed in front of 3016, perpendicular to Calaveras Street, on the southern portion of the lot.
The right half of the 3016 building will be placed on the property first. Each half of the house sits on a steel frame, which is loaded onto the truck’s flatbed. The steel frame will support the house until the structure is placed on its new foundation, which will be built next month.
The steel frame supporting the wooden structure is raised so the flatbed can slide out from under it. The frame is then lowered onto large castors, allowing the structure to be pulled onto the property and wheeled into place. Once in place, the steel frame is lowered onto wooden cribs.
Normally, the foundation would be built first, and the house would be lowered onto it. Due to time pressure to move the buildings as soon as possible, a permit was granted to temporarily store the house(s) on site until all the Building Permits were secured. Once the Building Permits are approved, the foundation will be built beneath the house, and the house will be secured to the foundation with bolts.
It was exciting to see the first half of 3016 put in place. The photo below shows the new placement location, with its other half waiting to be rolled into place.
Thank you for reading… The adventure of 3016 and her twin 3018 continues…
Cheers!
Alan Pinel
(213) 841-9988